Scott Sanders Wins WSOP at Harveys Lake Tahoe Stop

The World Series of Poker Circuit went on traveling across the country with various stops, and Harvey’s Lake Tahoe stop was an important one where real drama happened in the $1,700 Main Event. Scott Sanders managed to win the first place and win the second ring of his career, in addition to earning $147,314. In fact, this happened only one week after he won his first ring, also at Lake Tahoe in an event called $400 Monster Stack. However, the sum was much lower for that tournament – $25,201. However, the epicenter of attention was not Scott Sanders, but the runner-up Nick Pupillo who lost the heads-up battle. This is his second runner-up position in just a couple of weeks. He managed to do the same in another WSOPC event when he was beaten by Zach Schneider in WSOPC Hammond for $302k. The Main Event at the Lake Tahoe had a total of 442 entries, and the money list extended to 45 players. Some of the people that you might recognize, and who managed to make it to the money list but not the final table, are Val Vornicu, Scott Stewart, Adam Owen, and Vincent Moscati.

When the final table action began, both Sanders and Pupillo had a similar number of chips – approximately 50 big blind. However, that all changed through some amazing final table plays, and the two players had a 7 to 1 chip difference in favor of Sanders. when they entered heads-up play. However, Pupillo wanted to return to the games although he had just 13 big blinds, and he started working on it. First, he managed to flop two pairs and double his chips. This was followed by another great hand where he flopped a straight and managed to double once again. This was enough for him to grab the lead over Sanders. However, things did not look good for Pupillo in the end. Sanders did not have to do much to re-take the lead from him. It was a brave move, and it was really risky. First, Pupillo raised his bet to 300,000 (at 60,000/120,000/20,000) and Sanders decided to increase it even more – to 1,025,000. Pupillo called, and the flop revealed nine, six, and five. Sanders wanted to slow down and checked, but Pupillo bet another 800,000. This triggered Pupillo, who went all in – 2.9 million. Sanders had a four-three, while Pupillo had a ten-nine, which meant that he had a top pair. However, the turn revealed a seven, and this was a straight hand for Sanders. He risked it and put all his money on luck, but luck was in his favor with the seven that appeared on the turn.